Digital Games and Interactive Entertainment

In this study, we have developed a playful interactive reading and
storytellng application called 'Trees of Tales'. The tablet application was
designed to motivate Arabic children to read more for pleasure. 'Trees of
Tales' was evaluated with 18 primary school children in Oman to investigate its
effectiveness as an enjoyable reading tool. To assess the impact on usability
and the children's experience of fun and reading preference, we conducted three
reading sessions in which all participants read stories from 'Trees of Tales',
non-interactive e-books and conventional printed books. This paper describes
the design of the 'Trees of Tales' application as well as the results obtained
with the 'fun toolkit'.

This paper introduces an early prototype concept known as Gamicards, for use
in the design of gamified systems. With the popularity of gamified approaches
and the varying knowledge of designers of these systems, not enough resources
exist that can assist to guide designers through the process, ensuring
important elements (such as motivation) are considered. Gamicards are an early
prototype deck of cards that are designed to provide a resource for designers
from a range of different backgrounds and knowledge of gamified design, with
the intention to develop more meaningful gamified approaches.

This paper describes a design framework intended to conceptually map the
influence that game design has on the creative activity people engage in during
gameplay. The framework builds on behavioral and verbal analysis of people
playing puzzle games. The analysis was designed to better understand the extent
to which gameplay activities within different games facilitate creative problem
solving. We have used an expert review process to evaluate these games in terms
of their game design elements and have taken a cognitive action approach to
this process to investigate how particular elements produce the potential for
creative activity. This paper proposes guidelines that build upon our
understanding of the relationship between the creative processes that players
undertake during a game and the components of the game that allow these
processes to occur. These guidelines may be used in the game design process to
better facilitate creative gameplay activity.

This paper describes a conceptual model for the definition of a genre in the
context of Interactive Storytelling and its implementation in LogTell-R, a
system for the interactive creation of stories. This work builds on a previous
system and experiments with plan recognition and discusses the foundations of
our model to allow the creation of varied and coherent stories within a genre.

Over the last decade, people involved in game development have noted the
need for more formal models and tools to support the design phase of games. In
this paper we present an initial investigation into whether workflow patterns
-- which have already proven to be effective for modeling business processes --
are a suitable way to model task succession in games. Our preliminary results
suggest that workflow patterns show promise in this regard, but some
limitations, especially with regard to time constraints, currently restrict
their potential.

Keywords: Game Design; Design Tools; Workflow Patterns

Spheres and Lenses: Activity-Based Scenario / Narrative Approach for Design
and Evaluation of Entertainment through Engagement

Building on A.N. Leontiev's original activity theory, we propose extensions
to bridge conceptual gaps to operationalize an activity-based scenario /
narrative approach leading to a universal framework to inform design and reason
about the user experience of entertainment through engagement in task-based, as
well as improvised, extemporaneous and serendipitous interaction and gameplay.

Interactive storytelling in a mixed reality environment merges digital and
physical information and features. It usually uses an augmentation of the
real-world and physically-based interaction to create an immersive experience
that corresponds to the dramatic storyline of the interactive narrative
influenced by the actions of the user. Immersiveness is a crucial aspect of
such an installation, and can be influenced by multiple factors such as video,
sounds, interaction and, finally, the density of all combined stimuli. We used
one of the stages from our interactive ALICE installation to investigate
immersiveness and its contributing factors in a between-group design with a
special focus on the effects of interactivity, and the feedback and feedforward
stimuli of the environment on the users' experiences. The study was carried out
with 41 participants and the results showed that immersiveness not necessarily
depends on the modality of stimuli, but instead on their time-density.

Keywords: interactive storytelling; mixed reality; immersiveness

A Tool for Evaluating, Adapting and Extending Game Progression Planning for
Diverse Game Genres

Game progression design is a demanding, data-intensive design activity that
is typically performed by game designers without even basic computational
support. To address this, a concept for tool-supported "progression planning"
has been proposed and implemented by Butler, Smith, Liu & Popovic for the
design of their educational puzzle game Refraction. Refraction is a game that
has relatively undemanding progression design needs. Further tool development
and practice-based evaluation is needed to establish whether -- and if so, how
-- a generic, tool-supported progression design process can address the diverse
range of often complex progression design challenges that game designers find
themselves engaging with. In this paper we describe how we used three game
design case studies in contrasting game genres to inform the development of a
tool that adapts and extends the progression planning approach.

Keywords: game design; progression planning; design tools

The Active Use of Online Presence, Movies and Gameplay to Improve Classroom
Engagement

The online world is filled with rich interactive games, spaces, motion
pictures and personas. Despite a rapid growth in online education, the tertiary
classroom looks quite different to the entertaining online world it exists
within. The design of mobile online resources, both official and unofficial,
plays a key role in student engagement and learning. From the teachers
perspective designing an online presence and in particular engaging online
learning resources, is critical to the success of the learning environment.
This project looked at the use of popular forms of online materials, including
gameplay, movies and social media, and whether the application of entertainment
centered tools enhanced the learning environment. The results of the 9 year,
984 participant study indicate that the increased and active use of the
entertainment based tools had a significant positive effect in terms of student
engagement and a significant positive effect on learning outcomes for
international students.

Keywords: online learning; student engagement; gameplay; social media

Entertainment for Purpose and Persuasion

In an era of increasing technology use, it has been recognized that children
and adolescents have become more sedentary and engage in less physical
activity. Motivating children to be more physically active is not an easy task
given their preference for seated leisure activities. Video games are a
favorite leisure activity amongst children and adolescents. Exergames have been
suggested as one form of game that may make children more active. Activity
monitoring technologies are another proposed solution. This paper reviews
literature in the areas of exergaming and activity tracking technology and
proposes an initial design that involves merging the two areas. This work
builds on our previous research in this area and makes an original contribution
through the suggestion of added benefits that stem from the integration of
exergames and activity tracking technologies. Furthermore, we plan to expand
our research beyond the scope of this paper to propose a model based on this
incorporation. Here we conclude that the careful integration of exergames and
physical activity tracking technology provides the greatest potential to
increase and maintain physical activity levels in children and adolescents.

Computer models for designing educational games need to have practical
applications as well as underlying theoretical principles. In this paper, we
present the Structural Playability Process (SPP), a new approach for designing
and implementing serious games. Using the SPP designed game Ora -- Save the
Forest! as a case study, we describe the four SPP spaces: education,
translation, design and engine. Ora is a forest-pest-management game based on
scientific models and intended to inform players about the complexities of
ecosystem management. Preliminary user study results show that SPP is an
effective method of producing motivating and successful learning environments.

Interactive systems have been used successfully in sports to assist people
in achieving their performance goals, however, we believe that some aspects are
often overlooked. In this paper we focus on rock climbing and we examine
existing work on climbing from varying fields, including sports science,
psychology, and climbing literary works, in order to identify recurring
motivational themes. In total we identify and describe five key themes from
these works: "risk as a measure of progress", "maintaining challenge", "social
engagement", "experiencing beauty and nature", and "documenting and reliving
the experience". We then examine how existing digital climbing experiences
address these themes and suggest ways in which these interactive climbing
designs could embrace the themes they do not yet address. We believe this work
will be important not only when designing digital climbing experiences, but
also digital experiences for other extreme sports.

Assessing the Kinect's Capabilities to Perform a Time-Based Clinical Test
for Fall Risk Assessment in Older People

The Choice Stepping Reaction Time (CSRT) task is time-based clinical test
that has shown to reliably predict falls in older adults. Its current mode of
delivery involves the use of a custom-made dance mat device. This mat is a
measurement tool that can reliably obtain step data to discriminate between
fallers and non-fallers. One of the pitfalls of this test is that the
technology in use still imposes an obstacle on the degree of freedom to be able
to perform adaptive exercises suitable for the elderly. In this paper, we
describe a Kinect-based system that measures stepping performance through the
use of a hybrid version of the CSRT task. This study focuses on assessing this
system's capabilities to reliably measure a time-based clinical test of fall
risk. Results showed a favorable correspondence and agreement between the two
systems, suggesting that this platform could be potentially useful in the
clinical practice.

It is well known in the computer science community that is important to
encourage children to acquire coding skills and become creators of their own
experiences and not only mere game consumers. Different children have different
needs when approaching coding and making activities. Specifically, Deaf and
Hard of Hearing (DHH) children, even when provided with accessible visual
translations through sign language interpreters or real-time captions, need
customized support. In our approach we have designed, implemented, and
evaluated a workshop program of 12 children total, with the final goal of
exploring and improving the design of appropriate workshops using the current
learning environments. This paper presents an initial exploratory evaluation of
a coding experience for children with hearing impairments and the development
of a set of guidelines for improving the teaching of coding to children with
DHH difficulties. An initial set of best practices was first developed through
a focus group with experts; and afterwards, by employing content analysis, a
revised set of guidelines was obtained. The results should be useful for
special education teachers, curriculum designers and developers for K-12
education environments for DHH.

This paper will discuss common features of emergent play in the context of
developing an online collaborative practice-based research project, assimilate.
Emergent play features, such as development of fictional worlds will be
identified, followed by a discussion of player experience of emergent play. The
paper proposes an system framework that invites narrative emergent play
facilitated by a set of clearly defined and simplified affordances that provide
recognisable metaphors for collaboration.

In this paper, we explore the qualities of sharing biometric data in
real-time between athletes, in order to increase two motivational factors for
gym-goers: Enjoyment and social interaction. We present a novel smartphone
application, called Race By Hearts, which enables competition based on heart
rate data sharing between users in real-time. Through an empirical study
conducted in the gym, we show that sharing biometric data in real-time can
strengthen social relations between participants, increase motivation, and
improve the enjoyment of the fitness activity. Nevertheless, we found that
introducing competition based on real-time sharing of biometric data can cause
exasperation and discouragement for some athletes. Based on our findings from
the study, we discuss how technology can facilitate and modify competition in
fitness exercises in general.

Serious games have shown potential as learning material, but are not very
engaging. One reason why games are considered to be fun is their ability to
provide us with an interesting fantasy world to explore and play in, but this
seems at odds with the more serious nature of formal training. In this study, a
two by two (familiar versus unfamiliar visual setting and familiar versus
unfamiliar story setting) single-blind experiment (N=60) was performed, testing
the effect of the familiarity of aesthetics on game experience and learning.
Significant effects of story condition on learning and game experience was
found, with a familiar story setting leading to better learning, but subdued
game experience. Other effects were not significant.

Designing a Digital Experience for Young Children with Developmental
Disabilities

This paper reports on the development of a playful digital experience,
Anim-action, designed for young children with developmental disabilities. This
experience was built using the Stomp platform, a technology designed
specifically to meet the needs of people with intellectual disability through
facilitating whole body interaction. We provide detail on how knowledge gained
from key stakeholders informed the design of the application and describe the
design guidelines used in the development process. A study involving 13 young
children with developmental disabilities was conducted to evaluate the extent
to which Anim-action facilitates cognitive, social and physical activity.
Results demonstrated that Anim-action effectively supports cognitive and
physical activity. In particular, it promoted autonomy and encouraged problem
solving and motor planning. Conversely, there were limitations in the system's
ability to support social interaction, in particular, cooperation. Results have
been analyzed to determine how design guidelines might be refined to address
these limitations.

Keywords: Young children; developmental disability; interactive experience; design
guidelines; evaluation; play and games

Computational Methodologies for Entertainment

In this paper, we present simple and novel method to procedurally generate
the game maps for multiplayer shooter games faster (in order of seconds)
without compromising the expected features of a good multiplayer shooter
environment.

The current paper investigates how to model human play styles. Building on
decision and persona theory we evolve game playing agents representing human
decision making styles. Two methods are developed, applied, and compared:
procedural personas, based on utilities designed with expert knowledge, and
clones, trained to reproduce play traces. Additionally, two metrics for
comparing agent and human decision making styles are proposed and compared.
Results indicate that personas evolved from designer intuitions can capture
human decision making styles equally well as clones evolved from human play
traces.

Fractal patterns provide an automated mathematical method to create rich and
engaging visuals. These methods have been applied in the design of physical and
game spaces to only a limited extent. The current physical and virtual game
worlds are dominated by rectangles, squares and linear concepts. This research
studied the nature of fractal patterns and in particular the use of differing
levels of fractal complexity to design physical and virtual environments. The
findings from the randomized trial identified differing levels of fractal
complexity and their aesthetic appeal to participants. These levels of fractal
complexity were then applied to spatial environments in games to create spaces
that were more or less appealing to the participant. The principle of using
fractal complexity as a design tool to make an environment more or less
comfortable provided game and architectural designers an additional mechanism
to enhance spaces and levels of participant engagement.

This paper introduces an Artificial Intelligence (AI) model of a virtual
companion system on smartphone. The proposed AI model is composed of two
modules of Probabilistic Mood Estimation (PME) and Behavior Network. The PME is
designed for the purpose of automatic estimation of the mood, under uncertain
and dynamic smartphone context. The model combines Support Vector Machine (SVM)
and Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs) to estimate the probabilistic mood state
of the user. The behavior network contorts the behavior of the interactive and
intelligent virtual companion, considering the detected mood and external
factors. In order to make the virtual companion more believable, the system
consists of an internal mood state structure. The mood of the agent, could also
be inferred from another real human such as a remote partner. The fitness of
the artificial companion behavior in relation to the users mood state was
evaluated by user study and effectiveness of the system was confirmed.

Entertainment Devices, Platforms and Systems

We propose a new communication system by which niche people can obtain
cross-cutting information and communicate with other people based on each
personality. The system graphically displays the degree and direction of other
people's hobbies who are interested in the keyword niche people input, and
relation between the knowledge e.g. movies, music, animation, history,
geography using nodes. So, we can search friends who have similar interest and
direction in hobbies. From the demonstration experiments, we obtained good
results that the system could help niche people to gain and exchange useful
information.

In this paper, we propose the method for creating multi-view movable
fogscreen, and then implement it in our system called "HANASUI". "HANASUI"
displays handheld-like fireworks through a fog screen instead of sparkles. Our
method generates projection data dynamically from a virtual space and then
casts it with multiple projectors, tracking the marker attached to the device
which spouts fog at the fogscreen with infrared cameras and infrared
floodlights. Finally, we conducted a survey to verify the capabilities of
"HANASUI" and its potential for art and entertainment purposes.

Interactive Art, Performance and Novel Interactions

The new materials in public art installations give the birth to
interactivity and participation, which in turn, introduces new challenges, not
only in the creative design process, but also in how to involve the
participants in this process and in evaluating the targeted experience such as
such as social connectedness and inclusion. Six design cases are presented, as
examples for interactive and participatory forms of these installations. The
design techniques and the user experience evaluation methods overlap in these
cases and many of these techniques and methods have been found to be useful in
our practice.

The piece called healing bamboo is a drawing concept utilizing daegeum
interface as a performance interactive art. The piece has an aim of manifesting
spiritual culture of Bamboo healing by drawing fake bamboo on screen while
daegeum is being played. Drawing bamboo trees was a representative healing
method of the Korean ancestors. Although joys and sorrows of our ancestors
differ from those of modern day, the idea of bamboo tree purifying
consciousness and making mind upright continued up until now. A performer draws
pictures by meditating upon the symbolization of bamboo trees and the old
classical scholar' spirits. Accordingly, the daegeum sound that embraces mental
values of an oriental culture and the bamboo tree drawing based on such sound
offer emotional elements to heal the mind and body of a performer. We
reinterpreted the cultivation of mind of bamboo tree healing as a modern
tendency walking with the trend without discoloration of its meaning.